Saturday, December 09, 2006

Remembering Policeman Danny Faulkner

Today is the 25th anniversary of the premeditated murder of a Philadelphia Police Officer...One of Philly's finest, Daniel Faulkner (just 25 years old), was lured into an alley and murdered at point blank range... Mumia was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to the death penalty.

"...He has been transformed into a mythic figure, canonized at almost every opportunity-an outspoken revolutionary and hero to millions, in the words of one of the band members of Rage Against the Machine; a man similar in spirit to Mandela, in the words of novelist Alice Walker. Abu-Jamal himself, in a rare interview with a member of the mainstream media in 1995 (attempts, both in writing and through his lawyer, made by Vanity Fair to interview Abu-Jamal were unsuccessful), said he was uncomfortable with his role as a symbol. But those who once worked with him wonder. "The guy's a worldwide celebrity," says a former colleague. "I don't know if late at night he says, 'What the fuck have I gotten into? Look at what I've accomplished.'"

Whatever the motivation, the beat of Abu-Jamal goes on. And, there may be only one thing to mar it all: compelling evidence Abu-Jamal ran across Locust Street with a gun in his hand on that December night in 1981 and killed Daniel Faulkner.

In addition to the evidence, a former volunteer for a prison-reform organization who regularly visited Abu-Jamal has come forward with what he says was an admission by the inmate to the killing. In the early 1990s, Philip Bloch was an active participant in the Pennsylvania Prison Society. He was also a student at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, the town where Abu-Jamal was incarcerated. Bloch says that he had at least 10 conversations with Abu-Jamal in prison, and that it was during one of them when he asked the inmate, "Do you have any regrets about killing the officer?"

"Yes" was Abu-Jamal's reply, according to Bloch.

When police arrived at the scene, they not only saw Faulkner with blood pouring out of his face, but also saw Abu-Jamal sitting in close proximity, on the curb....(Read the Vanity Fair article that questions Hollywood's support of this murderer)

Mumia IS NOT a "political prisoner" --a status some "Free Mumia" websites like to elevate him to. He murdered a cop and someone's son, brother and husband. Can you believe they Named a Street after Mumia in France!? of course you can believe it...it's France, but still!

"...On Wednesday, U.S. House members passed a resolution 368-31 denouncing a French city, St. Denis, a suburb of Paris, for naming a street in honor of the cop-killer.

Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Philadelphia, who authored the resolution, said, "We must stand together and send a strong message to the world that cop-killers deserve to be punished, not to be celebrated." (source)

It's sad that on this 25th anniversary of Officer Faulkner's death that Mumia is still alive -earning degrees from prison, doing commentaries on NPR, writing books and answering fan mail...Daniel Faulkner was privy to none of those experiences.

"I have no respect for any of the (Abu-Jamal) supporters because they don’t even know who Danny was or who Abu-Jamal was. He’s just a poster boy against the death penalty; they have to have somebody. It’s sad." -Pat Faulkner